Orchid Beach (Holly Barker 1)

“Come take a look,” the doctor said. He led her into the ward. Chet Marley’s bed had been cranked into a sitting position, and he was taking soup from a nurse. He turned and looked her way.

“Holly!” he said, and he sounded weak.

“Hey, Chet,” she said, taking his hand. “How you feeling?”

“Kind of tired. Am I in the base hospital?”

“No, Chet, you’re back in Orchid Beach.”

Chet thought about that for a moment. “You got here kind of quick, didn’t you?” he asked.

“No, some time has passed since we last met. You’ve been hurt.”

He put his hand to the bandage on his head. “What happened?”

“Somebody shot you.”

“Who?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

Chet shook his head. “Last thing I remember, you and Ham and I were having dinner. I hired you, didn’t I?”

“That’s right, Chet, and I came to work a few days ago. You were hurt before we could talk.”

He pushed the soup away. “Boy, I’m tired,” he said. “None of this makes any sense.”

Dr. Green spoke up. “We’d better let him get some sleep. You can talk more tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Chet said, closing his eyes. The nurse lowered the bed, and he seemed to drift off.

Holly left the ward with the doctor. “Is he going to be all right?”

“Except for his memory loss, he seems to be recovering.”

“Is he going to get any of his memory back?”

“Hard to say. He seems perfectly aware of everything up until a few weeks ago, but as you saw, he remembers nothing about the shooting. That could come back to him, if the relevant brain tissue hasn’t been destroyed, but I can’t promise you it will. Come back tomorrow morning, and let’s see how he’s doing then.”

“All right. Thank you for calling me, Doctor, and let’s keep this quiet.”

“Of course. I’ll see that contact with him is limited. The nurses already know they’re not supposed to talk about him.”

“See you tomorrow,” Holly said, shaking his hand. She took the elevator downstairs and walked out to the car. Daisy was in the front seat now, her head in Jackson’s lap.

“I see you two are getting along,” Holly said. “Backseat, Daisy.” Daisy jumped into the backseat.

“We did fine,” Jackson replied. “She’s very nice when she’s not threatening to tear my throat out. I hope she doesn’t sleep with you.”

“She does,” Holly lied.

“Oh. How’s Chet?”

“Can you keep your mouth shut?”

“It’s one of the things lawyers do best. If we talked, the world would tremble.” He started the car and headed for the airport.

“He’s awake and talking.”